Evaluation of CO2 Hydrogenation in a Modular Fixed-Bed Reactor Prototype

Low-cost iron-based CO2 hydrogenation catalysts have shown promise as a viable route to the production of value-added hydrocarbon building blocks. It is envisioned that these hydrocarbons will be used to augment industrial chemical processes and produce drop-in replacement operational fuel. To this...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Catalysts 2020-09, Vol.10 (9), p.970
Main Authors: Willauer, Heather D., Bradley, Matthew J., Baldwin, Jeffrey W., Hartvigsen, Joseph J., Frost, Lyman, Morse, James R., DiMascio, Felice, Hardy, Dennis R., Hasler, David J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alumina
Carbon
Carbon dioxide
catalyst
Catalysts
Chemical reactions
Cost control
Feed rate
fixed-bed reactor
gas hourly space velocity (GHSV)
Heat
Hydrocarbons
Hydrogenation
Iron
Laboratories
Nuclear fuels
Performance evaluation
Photoelectrons
Prototypes
Reactors
Recycling
Selectivity
X ray photoelectron spectroscopy
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Summary:Low-cost iron-based CO2 hydrogenation catalysts have shown promise as a viable route to the production of value-added hydrocarbon building blocks. It is envisioned that these hydrocarbons will be used to augment industrial chemical processes and produce drop-in replacement operational fuel. To this end, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has been designing, testing, modeling, and evaluating CO2 hydrogenation catalysts in a laboratory-scale fixed-bed environment. To transition from the laboratory to a commercial process, the catalyst viability and performance must be evaluated at scale. The performance of a Macrolite®-supported iron-based catalyst in a commercial-scale fixed-bed modular reactor prototype was evaluated under different reactor feed rates and product recycling conditions. CO2 conversion increased from 26% to as high as 69% by recycling a portion of the product stream and CO selectivity was greatly reduced from 45% to 9% in favor of hydrocarbon production. In addition, the catalyst was successfully regenerated for optimum performance. Catalyst characterization by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), along with modeling and kinetic analysis, highlighted the potential challenges and benefits associated with scaling-up catalyst materials and processes for industrial implementation.
ISSN:2073-4344
2073-4344
DOI:10.3390/catal10090970